Published: Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 10:51 p.m.

Percy Leo Dobard, seen in handcuffs in this file photo, is up for parole. He was convicted of killing Wayne Sudduth.

File | Tuscaloosa News

Nicknamed “Barney” by the students at Livingston University, Sudduth was a well-liked and friendly presence on what's now the campus of the University of West Alabama in Sumter County.

The 42-year-old father of two was working an overnight shift on June 21, 1980, when he received a request to look out for two suspects from a robbery at O'Jim's Restaurant in neighboring Greene County. He stationed himself on U.S. Highway 11 to watch for a black and maroon Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The dispatcher didn't think Sudduth was in danger when he radioed that he was stopping a blue and silver Ford.

Sudduth didn't respond to subsequent calls on the radio. A Livingston police officer was in such a hurry to get to the location of the traffic stop that he wrecked his patrol vehicle and had to hitch a ride from a passing motorist. The men's fears were realized when they arrived at the scene: Sudduth was dead, laying near the center line of the highway as the blue lights of his car flashed in the dawn light. His gun was still in its holster.

A young woman who had been in the suspects' vehicle would later testify in court that Percy Leo Dobard, a 31-year-old heroin addict from New Orleans, had shot Sudduth three times at close range. He had acted like he was pulling his wallet from a back pocket, she said, but instead pulled the same handgun he had just used to threaten a waitress at the Eutaw restaurant.

The pair were captured after wrecking another stolen car at a road block near York. It was the beginning of 33 years of trials and court hearings for the Sudduth family.

Carl Sudduth was 14 when his father was killed. He will go before the state parole board on Aug. 7 when Dobard applies for parole from a life sentence for the ninth time.

Family fights release

“We do not want him released back into society,” Sudduth said.

The younger Sudduth, now 47, works hard to not allow the court procedures to overshadow the good memories he has of his father.

“It's like you're reliving the event over and over again when this comes up,” he said. “Instead of thinking about the fun times I had with my Dad, I'm constantly thinking of this situation.”

Dobard, now 64, is imprisoned at the medium-security Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore. According to a 2011 court document in which an attorney asked to consolidate his sentences on the murder, robbery and escape charges, he has completed 10 programs while in custody, including a degree in applied science awarded cum laude from Gadsden State Community College. It was unclear last week whether he has an attorney or anyone who plans to speak for him at the hearing.

Jennette Kennedy, 18 in 1980, was in the car with Dobard during the shooting. She pleaded guilty, testified against the father of her child and received a 20-year sentence. She died two years after she was released.

A jury found Dobard guilty and recommended the death penalty after a 1981 trial. He was later granted a retrial and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1986.

No reason to kill him

District Attorney Greg Griggers, who prosecutes cases for Greene, Sumter and Marengo counties, said he wrote a lengthy letter to the parole board opposing Dobard's release.

He said he recently spoke to UWA officials and area law enforcement officers who remember the case and feel Dobard should remain behind bars.

“This is a case that touched a lot of different groups in the community,” he said. “It still brings up a lot of bad feelings.”

“There was no reason they had to kill him.”

A model for the young

Wayne Sudduth was from the Moore's Bridge area. He met his wife, Sara, through mutual friends in Tuscaloosa before they married in 1962. He worked as a manger at the A&P grocery store on Greensboro Avenue and served in the U.S. Army in the late 1960s and early 1970s before becoming an officer.

Sudduth had worked as a guard at the university since 1972.

“He liked being a role model and mentor to the young people,” Sudduth said. “I've had so many people tell me that's how they remember my dad. He allowed them to have their fun and at the same time tried to help them out and make sure they didn't get into any trouble.”

Carl Sudduth and his younger sister, LeeAnn, thought it was fun growing up with a father who was a police officer. Seeing their father dressed in a police uniform and riding in his car with flashing lights was exciting when they were young.

“We never really thought about the danger that he faced every day,” he said.

The extended family would often get together on weekends and attend dirt-track races in Eutaw. It was a special treat when their father wasn't working a night shift and could join the family, Sudduth said. The family lived in the Beulah community in Greene County, but the kids attended West End Christian in Tuscaloosa, where Sara Sudduth worked at First National Bank.

“He would pick us up from school on Fridays, and we'd go do different things before my mother got off from the bank,” Sudduth said. “Those were the fun times that we looked forward to.”

Sara Sudduth was 70 when she died on July 15. She was one of the early members of Victim's of Crime and Leniency, VOCAL, which helped lobby for victim's rights laws, including the one that requires families to be notified of parole hearings.

Missing a father

This will be the first hearing that Carl Sudduth will attend without his mother by his side.

Sudduth thinks about his father often, especially when he and his wife attend UWA sports events. Wayne Sudduth was an ardent supporter of the college and its programs. He thinks of him, too, when he visits his nieces — the granddaughters Wayne Sudduth never got to meet.

“I know he would have been so proud of them,” he said. “It's times like that when I remember him and think ‘I wish he was here now.' ”